Families board next, then "B" passengers, and the last group to board Southwest planes is the "C" group. Folks in that group are usually stuck in a middle seat; Southwest's Boeing 737 jets have three seats on each side of the center aisle.

Experienced Southwest travelers go to the company's Web site precisely 24 hours before scheduled departure to be among the first to check in. They'll still be able to do that, but they may find themselves far from the front of the line.

That's good enough for Beverly Nageotte, an artist from Cloudcroft, N.M., who was waiting at Dallas Love Field for a flight back home. She said people would be silly to pay $10 extra.

"You're not going to go anywhere until everyone's on the plane anyway," she said. "I'm happy to get on the plane and hope it takes off and lands safely."

Dallas lawyer Ed Cloutman said $10 would be a bargain for harried consumers.

"Getting stuck in the middle seat is no fun," he said.

Steve Kennedy, a banker from Houston who often flies Southwest to Dallas, recalled that during its freewheeling youth in the 1970s Southwest made a splash by charging more for tickets but threw in a complimentary bottle of liquor.

"I understand in this day probably the best they can do is move you ahead in line instead of giving you a fifth," he said. "Corporations don't like that anymore."